


Putting in the effort

by 13lizardsinatrenchcoat



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Coping, Gen, Hance - Freeform, Hangst, Hurt/Comfort, If You Squint - Freeform, Langst, Nobody knows, Sad Ending, its one am and i wrote this all in one go plz forgive me it's been three hours of hell, where did the comfort go?, without the comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-11-18 18:38:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11296470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/13lizardsinatrenchcoat/pseuds/13lizardsinatrenchcoat
Summary: Team Voltron sets out to accomplish an impossible mission, but it might require an impossible sacrifice.





	Putting in the effort

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BombDiggityDog](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BombDiggityDog/gifts).



> Dedicated to my stunning fiancée and brilliant editor BombDiggityDog. This is my first work on AO3 and I hope to make more soon.

Lance, if he ever managed to put in the effort, could be very good with words. Lance would always put in the effort for Hunk. Sometimes, when Hunk was feeling homesick, he would knock on his door and Lance would always let him in. They would sit there, in the almost darkness, illuminated by the blue panel lighting that was an unsettling reminder of how far they were from home, side by side and squished together by the nature of Lance’s small bed and Hunk’s large frame, and Lance would describe Earth. When he spoke Hunk swore he could hear the gentle crash of waves rushing up to greet the shore, he could feel the merciless sun warm his back and smell sea brine that made foreigners feel ill. Lance would take Hunk’s hand tightly into his own,and he would go on for hours about feeling of sand beneath feet and starfish in hand and ocean on skin. If Hunk was ever homesick he would go to Lance, because Lance was home.

Lance, without ever needing to put in the effort, was an excellent singer. He’d sometimes stumble over his words and he’d need to be reminded of certain lyrics (especially the english ones), but he made up for it with a voice that sounded like honey. For all that people might find him irritating, for all that they might shove him away, Lance’s voice would always call the them back. He was like a siren that way, but he called his drowning team back to shore rather than away. After particularly intense missions Lance, before showering, before eating, and sometimes (every time he wasn’t unconscious) before seeking medical attention,would sing. After the others tended to their own needs( often after a lot insistence from Coran) they would congregate in the kitchen where they would always find Lance, sitting on a counter, staring at the ceiling and singing. It was a reminder of sorts (especially to Shiro, who had spent so long without music) of why they were fighting. It was a reminder of the people back home and the music still being made and the songs and the art that would be lost if the Galra won. To Hunk, who was always so trapped in his own headspace, it was a reprieve he didn’t often get. Lance’s voice was an opportunity to lose himself in the music, to forget about Earth and Altea, paladins and galra, Voltron and Zarkon. It was a rare moment of peace, and it was one of the few things that kept him from breaking. It was Hunk, Lance, and the music, and nothing else mattered.

In the heat of battle Lance was there too, making jokes and acting as if things couldn’t go to hell at any moment, as if their lives weren’t on the line. It was Lance that slowed Hunks panicked breaths and Lance that helped him focus enough to get the job done. Hunk always overthought and overplanned and panicked when things inevitably fell apart. Lance made him hold his ground, even while ships were hurtling overhead and soldiers were thirsting for their blood. Lance pulled Hunk back to the present, into the moment when the team needed him most. Hunk wasn’t meant to be a soldier, but when Lance spoke he was strong enough to last one more second, one more minute, one more hour, one more mission. Hunk always fell apart so easily, but Lance always knew what to say to put him back together.

They are on a mission now. The galra have made guns-guns that shoot faster, louder, and cause a hell of a lot more damage. Enough damage to penetrate the lion’s armor or the castle’s defenses. Enough to stomp out any resistance stronghold. They got there too late to stop the galra from testing and manufacturing a new laser gun. They might not be too late to stop the weapons from getting off planet. Voltron is needed, so Voltron they will be no matter how much Hunk’s knees are shaking as he and Lance enter the weapons vault. It is Pidge’s job to delete the galran research, to stop the guns from being mass produced for years until the Galra manage to reconduct all of their research. She has arguably the most dangerous job, because she is alone. Shiro and Keith are trying desperately to keep the galran supply ship grounded until Lance and Hunk can dispose of the guns. The duo is using everything they’ve got, but it’s only two of them against an entire battalion of galra whose sole purpose is to get the vessel in the air. Once the spacecraft moves it will be nearly impossible to catch up with. Despite their best efforts Shiro and Keith are losing ground fast.  
“I’m finished” says Pidge as she flees down a corridor. She ducks under one soldier’s arm, then chops off another’s as she runs to her lion. “If the guns are destroyed there’s no way for these purple bastards to figure out how to rebuild them, they’ll have to start from scratch.” She is already in her lion, on her way to aid Keith and Shiro.

“Lance, Hunk, how long have you got? Not to rush you, but we’re running out of time”, asks Shiro, trying desperately not to let anyone else hear his worry. He fails.  
“We’re doing fine, aren’t we Hunk? Hang in there now, just a couple more minutes and the Galra won’t know what hit ‘em” responds Lance, as cool and cocky as always. His self assurance seems to do wonders for Hunk, who for once doesn’t sound like he’s going to burst into tears when he speaks.  
“There’s a couple soldiers coming our way but I- I think we can handle them.”  
“Don’t waste time on them if you don’t have to. We really gotta move,” says Keith worriedly.  
Suddenly, Hunk hears a disorientingly loud boom as the corridor besides them explodes outwards. There’s two galra already marching through a massive hole that makes the barricade Lance and Hunk built on this segment of the hallway utterly useless, causing Hunk to smash his head against a wall. Lance shoots one and then the other as Hunk regains his footing, only to see a swarm of galra descending upon them. Just then they hear Allura on their comms.  
“Paladins, you’re out of time. Plant the bomb, set the timer, and get out.”  
“Stay strong, I know you’ve got it in you!” says Coran encouragingly. It does nothing to make Hunk feel any better. He knows just how dire this situation is. They’ve set the explosives, but they’ve yet to activate the timer. Once they do, the whole ship will go up in flames. If the guns overheat, which they most certainly will, it will cause massive destruction, so the ship needs to be off planet and nowhere near any life forms when it explodes.  
Over the intercom, Shiro and the others hear “Let the ship fly once Hunk makes it out, I’ll be right behind him.” They don’t question it because Lance is many things, but he isn’t a liar.  
Hunk doesn’t hear this, and he is panicking about setting the timer for the bomb. The issue is, Lance and Hunk don’t have time to set the timer and make it off the ship. Or at least, Hunk doesn’t think they do. But Lance pats the explosive reassuringly, and then holds Hunks face in his hands as he leans up on his tiptoes to whisper something in his ear. Hunk’s ears are ringing. Hunk has no idea what Lance is saying, but he knows that Lance is smiling and Lance looks tired and happy, and it’s a look he gets sometimes after missions when everyone is safe and Lance can relax a bit. It’s the look Lance gets when he lets go. Hunk feels safe, and Hunk thinks Lance has everything under control, so when Lance turns to face him towards the exit that is being blocked off by Galra, Hunk knows what he should do and he doesn’t hesitate. He uses his blaster and shoots any Galra in his way, and he’s sure Lance is just behind him because occasionally a galra will be picked off that he doesn’t remember shooting at. Hunk is tired and angry and all he wants to do is get into his lion and back to the castle and figure out a way to stop the deafening ringing in his ear. He makes it through the sea of enemies eventually, and he doesn’t hesitate to get off the ship. He is certain Lance is right behind him. He is certain Lance is in Blue, but he doesn’t have time to look because suddenly Galra fighter jets descend upon them. Three other paladins, no longer preoccupied with keeping the soon to be decimated supply ship on the ground, rush to his defense, and when the sky finally clears they see the massive galran aircraft vanish into the distance. There is a bright flash of light, and soon after a massive gust of air sends the lions reeling. Only then do they see Blue. The lion is ripping into galran fighter jets left and right, even as they try to surrender knowing that their mission has failed, even as they try desperately to escape or to land or to do anything but be completely and utterly destroyed. Shiro lets him: after such a difficult mission, he can allow Lance the chance to blow off some steam. When the last galra is dead, they return to the castle.

Keith exits his lion first, rosy cheeked and smiling wide, still filled with adrenaline from the heat of battle. Pidge is frowning, preoccupied with the schematics she saw and what they might mean. Then comes Shiro, a little solemn, but still allowing himself a small smile at their victory. Hunk is shaky, but happy to be alive. They all wander off for food and drink, Allura and Coran busy with repairs to the damages ship sustained during the battle and from the aftershocks of the explosion. They expect Lance to follow. They expect, once they’ve showered and made their way to the kitchen, to find him there. They expect to hear him sing or to regale them with his heroic feats. Lance is not in the kitchen. Hunk needs Lance to comfort him after such a stressful day, especially because he required the healing pods to fix his ears and they make him feel claustrophobic, but Lance doesn’t open his door. Pidge gets fed up with waiting and scans the ship, but there is no sign of Lance anywhere. When he goes to the lions Keith finds Blue with her forcefield up. Finally Allura marches up to Lance’s lion, and makes her open up, but Lance is not in the cockpit. Eventually, on a whim, she checks Blue’s computer.

A message flashes across the screen in all red: “A paladin is required before the systems can be operated.”  
“But you have a paladin,” says Allura. “Lance is your paladin, and we’re having an awful lot of trouble finding him today”.  
“Lance McClain was the previous pilot of the blue lion. A new paladin is required.” Allura frowns, and she speaks with great trepidation  
“Computer, tell me the status of Lance McClain.”  
“Lance McClain, most recent paladin of the blue lion, status deceased.” Allura freezes and Coran’s smile falls.  
“Computer, what is the status of Lance McClain?”  
“Lance McClain, status: deceased.”  
“What is the status of Lance McClain?”  
“Lance McClain, status: deceased.”  
All throughout the castle the conversation repeats itself, and the paladins hear Allura ask that innocent question, and the computer answer that terrible answer, over, and over, and over, and over again until finally Coran managed to pull her away from the lions, and pry her back from the computer.  
“Lance McCLain, status: deceased.”  
Unbidden, a shared memory rises in the minds of the Galra’s greatest opposition. A flash of light and a gust of wind. That was all that was left of Lance McClain. The castle is almost silent for the days afterwards, people moving but not speaking, grieving and alone and lost. Confused about what to do next, about what he would have wanted them to do next.  
“Surely he must of said something.” They all ask themselves. “Surely he would have told us. Surely at least he would have left some parting words.”  
Hunk asks this of himself the most. Unbidden, a memory rises in his mind. Lance holding him close, Lance whispering something in his ears, Lance letting go. Hunk marching out, shooting galra, giving Lance time. He thought he was making way for Lance to come with him. He was giving him time to set the timer, but not enough time to make it off the ship alive. Unbidden a memory rises: Lance’s final words. Hunk is sure they were important, Lance could be very good with words when he put in the effort. They were his last words. He would put in the effort for his last words. They were for Hunk. He always put in the effort for Hunk. Unbidden a memory rises: Lance whispering something in Hunk’s ear. Hunk’s ears ringing loudly, drowning out the words. Hunk replays those final moments out in his mind over and over and over again for the rest of his life. He is desperate to remember his best friend’s final message.  
He can never hear the words.


End file.
